[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] of Paris have won a competition to renovate a theatre in Dunkerque, France.

Called [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.],
the building will be clad in golden-coloured perforated metal, rising
in stepped volumes from the square on which it is situated.

It will contain a concert hall, smaller theatre, practice hall,
dressing rooms, storage and offices, as well as the foyer, cafe, bar
and gift shop.

Here’s some more information from Mikou Design Studio:
–
“A theatre as an open, structuring urban venue”
We conceived the new Bateau Feu theatre in Dunkirk both as an open
urban venue – which is welcoming by the diversity of the complementary
programme of events and activities that it provides and their strategic
orientation in the urban space – and as a structuring civic building
and arts amenity located on the Place du Général de Gaulle square.
By its location on Place du Général de Gaulle, the Bateau Feu
theatre orchestrates several scales and dimensions, with four free
façades that face onto and react to various different urban situations:
an intimate domestic scale on the west for housing and the planted
garden, a public scale on Rue du Jeu de Paume, a developing future
major thoroughfare onto which the shops of the future shopping centre
face, and a non-institutional scale on Place du Général de Gaulle which
questions the expression of a new contemporary theatre in the city.
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On the east, the façade of the theatre’s large hall faces onto the
urban space in an architectural and spatial composition which links
together the inside and outside of the amenity.
On the south, the theatre “enters the city”, welcoming the public in
the flow of spaces designed on the urban site. The open, generous
entrance foyer – which is itself in dialogue and spatially connected
with the large hall on the ground floor – and the small hall, the café
bar, the bookshop and the lounge areas on a south-east diagonal which
links together these social meeting-places.
The glazed monumental staircase leading to the raised foyer and to
the upper entrance to the large hall, placed on the south façade on the
side of the entrance esplanade, also participates in this spatial
scenography of the theatre’s significant spaces. Visually, it opens the
space on the underside of the forum pierced by large voids, allowing
through top lighting and revealing the volume of the large hall. A
chandelier designed like a lighted canopy increases the theatrical
effect and corresponds to the vibrations of the internal space.
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Expression and materiality
The renovated theatre is a unified building that is arranged in
steps that descend to the square in a succession of light, vibrant
volumes from the stage-house to the foyer.
The architectural expression chosen for the theatre’s façades is a
perforated metal cladding in a range of luminous ochre tones which
matches the mystery and magic of the theatre.
The successive setbacks of stepped volumes reveal a series of large
illuminated “frames” that face towards the square. An artificial
lighting system shall be placed in these frames, between the rain
barrier and the perforated metal cladding, to create night lighting and
to visually enhance the theatre and the square.
On the west, in the garden, the building melts into the intimacy of
the housing with an anthracite brick plinth that matches the scale of
the block of housing and creates a visual distance from the perforated
metal elements located in the background.
This new theatre is open to everyone. Its extension and
rehabilitation provides an opportunity for experimenting the effects of
architectural and urban renovation on the public.
It offers a variety of spaces and provides a multitude of
possibilities for using, occupying and experiencing the various spaces
related to the theatre and its annexes, to cater for different types of
people and allow different circulation flows of people at the same time.
Mikou Design Studio is a place of creation and experimentation in
architecture and its inter-disciplinary cross-fertilisation. We work in
a continuous workshop spirit with a multidisciplinary team of
architects, engineers, graphic artists, scenographers and town planners
from very different cultural backgrounds.
Every project is an excuse for re-questioning and redefining the
meaning of a brief, a function, and an urban, social and human context,
in order to invent new ways of living, places for sharing and gathering
that are more sensitive and more sensual, and which stimulate feelings.
Our aim is to get away from preconceptions of form and function in order to transmit more and better.
Mikou Design Studio is currently involved in a large number of
projects throughout France, Germany and Morocco, with a focus on
cultural, educational, housing and offices.
The two partners, Salwa and Selma Mikou were born in Fes Marocco.
After attending school in Paris (Paris Belleville) and Lausanne (EPFL),
they received their diploma on Architecture and Urban design in 2000.
During 2000 to 2005 they worked at RPBW (Renzo Piano Building
workshop) and AJN (Ateliers Jean Nouvel) Paris where they were in
charge of international projects in Abudhabi (Lulu Island), Doha (Urban
design of Doha waterfront), Los Angeles (Lacma museum), Seoul (Samsung
Chairman house), Beirut (Condominium offices and hotel), Rabat
(Bouregreg Valley), Kuwait (Performing Art Center and hotels), London (
legal and general offices).
They co-founded Mikou Design Studio in 2005.
Dunkerque Theater
Competition November 2009
Mikou Design Studio architect
Winning entry
Area 4500 sqm
Program Concert Hall, Black box Theater, Foyer, Practice hall, Dressing room, Backstage,
Storage, café, bar, gift shop, offices
Budget 15 Millions Euros

Source : dezeen.com